Books Read in 2010

I read 29 books last year, which is an increase from the 25 I read in 2009 (link), but still way below the 54 I read in 2008 (link), when I set a goal to read at a pace of one book per week.


Amongst the selection are some classic authors read for the first time (Sartre, Victor Hugo, William Burroughs, Thomas Mann), a rereading of Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye for the first time in about fifteen years prompted by the author’s death, film history related books (Midnight Movies, a Sam Peckinpah biography), and per usual, a lot of crime fiction (three books from Richard Stark’s Parker series, a Raymond Chandler, my first Charles Willeford).

Shamefully, this was the year I finally read some of Elmore Leonard’s work, and as expected, his gifted prose of flawed heroes, dim villains and crackerjack pacing, set their hooks in me; I read three of his books and have a stack twice that size on my ever intimidating “too read” pile. Also in the pile are recently received holiday gifts, thrift and used book store finds, and five film reference books of varying size (Stephen Thrower’s Nightmare USA, Destroy All Movies: Punks on Film, a Spaghetti Western history, Danny Peary’s Cult Movies and a history of Universal Monsters) that I have begun skimming.

Here for posterity's sake, are all the books I read in 2010.


1. Midnight Movies-J. Hoberman & Jonathan Rosenbaum
2. No Exit and Three Other Plays-Jean Paul Sartre
3. The High Window-Raymond Chandler
4. The Catcher in the Rye-J.D. Salinger
5. Margrave of the Marshes-John Peel & Shelia Ravencroft
6. Deliverance-James Dickey
7. The Book of Other People (complitation)-edited by Zadie Smith
8. Freaky Deaky-Elmore Leonard


9. The Man With the Getaway Face-Richard Stark
10. Mary-Vladimir Nabokov
11. The Hunchback of Notre Dame-Victor Hugo
12. The Leopard-Giuseppe di Lampedusa
13. Death in Venice/Tristan/Tonio Kruger-Thomas Mann
14. Yipee Kay Ya Moviegoer-Vern
15. Junky-William S. Burroughs
16. The Outfit-Richard Stark
17. The Burnt Orange Hearsay-Charles Willeford
18. 52 Pick Up-Elmore Leonard
19. A Special Providence-Richard Yates
20. The Big Rewind-Nathan Rabin
21. If They Move...Kill 'Em: The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah-David Weddle
22. Glitz-Elmore Leonard
23. The Haunting of Hill House-Shirley Jackson

24. Carrie-Stephen King
25. My Year of Flops-Nathan Rabin
26. The Mourner-Richard Stark
27. No Borders, No Limits-Mark Schilling
28. The West End Horror-Nicholas Meyer
29. The Catch-Gary Meyers

What did you read in 2010?